Public Accounts Committee on March 23rd, 2023

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

We can have a discussion about whether we do it at the committee time on the Monday or if we go in individually and see the clerk. I'd have to speak to him about that as well.

You have the floor, Ms. Sinclair‑Desgagné.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

In order to reduce constraints, since we will be spending two weeks in our constituencies, would it be possible to remove “no later than 15 days following the receipt of the contracts”? That would enable us to amicably agree on the week without being restricted to the week of April 21.

I am asking for very simple reasons, as I am out of the country that week.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

You'd better work with Mr. Housefather on some new language. You're not here that week.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Mr. Chair, perhaps it would be possible to replace “15 days” with

“designated by the committee no later than 30 days”.

This would provide greater flexibility.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Yes.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Great. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I'm going to suspend for one minute so I can get a coffee. I'll be right back.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Members, can we have order, please?

Let's hear the reading of the motion in French from the clerk.

For those in the other language, we made a small change, which is that we will be able to review it over a period of 30 days, or rather we'll find a week within a 30-day window.

[The Clerk]

Here is the motion:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g), the committee undertake a study of the contracts between Public Services and Procurement Canada with Moderna, Sanofi, Pfizer, Medicago, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax for the supply of COVID‑19 vaccines (Auditor General's Report 9 and 10); That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1), the committee order Public Services and Procurement Canada to produce a copy of each of the said contracts by forwarding them to the clerk of the committee within 15 days of the adoption of this motion, provided that they are free of any redactions; That, when these documents are received by the clerk: a. They be available at the clerk's office for viewing by committee members only, for one week to be designated by the committee no later than 30 days following the receipt of the contracts, under the supervision of the clerk and that no personal mobile or electronic devices be permitted in the room that week; and that no notes be taken out of the room.

b. Representatives of Public Services and Procurement Canada be invited to appear for a two hour in camera meeting and that during the meeting, only committee members and support staff required for the meeting be permitted to attend and that no personal mobile, electronic or recording devices be permitted in the room during the meeting; that, during the meeting, numbered paper copies of the documents be given to committee members who are present in person by the clerk at the beginning of the said meeting and that these copies be returned to the clerk at the end of the meeting and that the clerk be instructed to destroy the said copies; and that no notes be taken out of the room.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I'm looking for unanimous consent.

(Motion agreed to)

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

Thanks, everyone.

That's very good.

[A voice]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Hold on. We will soon.

Mr. Clerk, you will send that off first thing in the morning, and the countdown will begin.

I'm going to do some very quick business.

Do you have a point you'd like to make, Madame Sinclair-Desgagné?

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

I want to reiterate something that was brought up earlier.

We are the first parliamentarians in the world to have access to these unredacted contracts. So I want to congratulate the members of this committee on their cooperation. Sometimes it's worth being ambitious, and in this case, I think it will be worth it, to strengthen the confidence of Quebeckers and Canadians in their institutions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you.

I want to take a second now so that I don't forget later. I want to thank the staff for being here for these long couple of meetings over Thursday. I'd like to thank the translation team as well for the work they do and for helping us make sure we have this motion down.

On Monday, as you know, the Auditor General is coming. Monday is an unusual day. We're going to have the Auditor General before us even before she goes before the media. We have the lock-up that morning, which is open to all parliamentarians and staff. At 10 a.m., she will appear before an ad hoc committee that I chair—not this committee. That's open to all members and senators for an in camera review.

At 11 a.m., we have committee. We won't start that committee until the document is tabled in the House, probably at 11:10 or 11:11. Therefore, there will be a bit of a lag. Once it's tabled in the House, our meeting will begin. The Auditor General will make remarks and then go to questions from committee members. That will last for approximately one hour. I'll suggest we have a subcommittee meeting after that, so members will be excused unless they want to stick around. We'll talk about the documents that were tabled and where we're at with other committee business in order to get caught up on things.

On Thursday of next week, we'll likely have “Report 7: Cybersecurity of Personal Information in the Cloud”. The clerk has been working on this. That will take us to the recess, so we're in pretty good shape in terms of being efficient with our time.

Does that sound good? It does. Okay.

Is there anything else, Mr. Clerk? No.

I'm going to look for agreement to adjourn.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you.

We are adjourned.